Smith donates salary to protect unborn children at the Annual Banquet for Life

ROLLA, MO – Congressman Jason Smith presented the Rolla Pregnancy Resource Center with a donation to support expecting mothers and protect unborn children at the 12th Annual Banquet for Life on Thursday.

“Sadly, we have lost more than 60 million lives in the United States since abortion became legal and Roe v. Wade was upheld by the Supreme Court 45 years ago,”said Congressman Smith. “I have voted repeatedly and consistently to make sure that no taxpayer funds are used for abortions and instead, I have chosen to support pregnancy resource centers like the Pregnancy Center in Rolla and Birthright in Cape Girardeau who protect innocent lives and provide critical resources to mothers and families.”

During the 2018 March for Life, Smith met a Rolla woman named Kelsey and her twin girls. Kelsey bravely defended the lives of her unborn babies when others were trying to pressure her into an abortion. Through the compassionate care of the Rolla Pregnancy Center, Kelsey was able to receive the support she needed to carry her children to term.

“I am proud to make this donation to the Rolla Pregnancy Resource Center,” said Congressman Smith. “I have spent time with them, and I can tell you first hand that they are putting their resources to good use and using them to protect unborn babies’ right to life and help mothers like Kelsey fight for their children.”

“We don’t get any state or federal funding, God decided to put this center here 12 years ago and God gets all the credit for that,” said Joe Dalton, Director of the Rolla Pregnancy Resource Center.

According to Dalton, the Rolla Pregnancy Resource Center had 427 clients from 20 counties in 2017. Seventy percent of their clients came in leaning towards an abortion, and in 99% of the cases, they were able to save the baby’s life.

“Every life is precious. It’s a blessing to say we were able to save 298 babies last year,” said Dalton. “Congressman Smith’s donation is going to help us save even more precious lives this year.”

When asked about why he chose to donate his salary, Smith said, “If your government isn’t working for you, then your elected officials should not get paid, it’s that simple. When Senate Democrats chose to shut down the government and prioritize illegal immigration over paying our troops and important children’s health programs, I knew I wanted to take my salary from the shutdown and donate it to worthy causes across Missouri.”